Relic

This may look like an ordinary ivy in a somewhat ugly basket, but look closer. It’s special. Can you tell?

This little ivy was part of a dish garden delivered to my desk on the first day of my new job on – are you ready??? –

September 22, 1974.

That’s not a typo. Nineteen SEVENTY-four. Yes, boys and girls. I have had this plant for 34 years. Longer than I’ve had my daughter. Longer than I put up with any of my husbands…added together! I’ll bet that’s longer than some of you have been breathing.

It started life in Arlington, Texas and graced my office in three different buildings in that city. Then, it moved with me and the cat to DC, where it once again shared my cubicle. Nearly 3 years ago, we all moved from DC to Tennessee. It’s hung in there through thick and thin…richer or poorer…’til death do us…. Oh, snap! I think I got my relationships mixed up!

In any event, this is one tough plant. It’s been ignored…and then suffered through the over-watering of my guilty conscience. It’s struggled through dismal situations where almost no natural light existed. It’s been nibbled by cats and lived without plant food for years on end. It’s been cut back to its nubbins. And it always bounces back. It’s amazing, but this is the longest period of time any living thing has endured me – and that includes my mother.

Wow…I, too, have a long-lived ivy, though not nearly that long. We got it as part of a flower arrangement after my father-in-law’s funeral in October of 2001. In spite of the fact that I’ve had a brown thumb for most of my life (just starting to get into taking care of plants and such now), I’ve managed to keep this ivy alive for nearly seven years so far.

As far as “relics,” I have a few. I still have the Fisher Price Freddy bear that I got when I was 2, and who was my best friend for much of my early childhood. (I’ve since collected several more Freddy bears as well.) When I was about 4 or 5, I played my parents’ Waylon Jennings Greatest Hits album so much that I wore down the grooves and they had to buy a new one…still have both of those, and Waylon is still my favorite.

There are others, I’m sure, but those are the ones that immediately came to mind.

Btw, I forgot to mention in my previous comments…it’s interesting that I found you through City Mouse and then saw WWdN in your blogroll. I, too, am one of Unca Willy’s faithful. I was a member of the Soapbox back in the day, had stories in the ‘Boxer books, etc. Small world!